Customer Reviews

Inherit the Stars

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What makes 'Inherit the Stars' a good novel is the fact that it's genuine SCIENCE fiction, not science FICTION--or what some call science fantasy. Hardcore SF is difficult to find and it's difficult for publishers to fills those slots for hardcore SF. Most SF is actually social science fiction. Just because a story takes place in the future doesn't mean science and scientific theory is used, explained or investigated within the context of the novel. BUT `Inherit the Stars' has all that and more.

'Inherit the Stars' is something of a mystery--not that a crime has taken place but there is a mystery--a science mystery--which Hogan went to great pains to make consistent as well as interesting to read. Clues are found and examined by the characters. Theories are tossed about, and soon enough, some of the theories `stick,' and the story hangs together well.

Even though the book was published over twenty years ago, there are no glaring inconstancies due to the passage of time. The novel is solid as if it came off the press today, and very entertaining, and offers a startling future of possibilities.

I won't comment on the literary merit of this book, which I suspect is probably not all that high, but it was distinctly different in its time and probably influenced a lot of people for that reason. As others have mentioned, it's very much of a "science" fiction book. Even at the time, most of the speculative science seemed very plausible, and even reading it again today, most of it holds up really well. That was my first real introduction to evolutionary theory and, having studied it extensively since then, the way Hogan explained it via the Danchekker character, is a very good encapsulation of Darwinian evolution (interestingly, Hogan himself has become something of Darwin contrarian; check his web site and other novels).

What I find so interesting about the book is its lack of heroics, really. There's no real action taking place, no battles between aliens (sort of) and courageous Earthlings. No one's life is ever threatened. It's a scientific detective story that gradually unfolds, but logically and rationally, and based on the results of research. This is why it was particularly influential to me; I eventually went on to an advanced degree in the sciences. Hogan showed that normal, ordinary scientists can be interesting. That you don't need to wield a laser gun or a lightsaber (!) to be part of a fascinating story. Essentially, that the process of discovery and analysis can itself be intellectually exciting. He captured the essence of what drives working scientists all over the world. As a budding computer nerd, this was the right fertilizer at the right time.

Over the years, I've noted how his technology and societal predictions have held up. Some well, some not so well. Lots of people are still smoking all over the place in Hogan's 2027. Digital Equipment is still a major player in that world as well (and no sign of Microsoft! Ah, one can wish. . . .)

Doesn't look like we'll have people on the moon, Mars, and Jupiters moons by then though, nor a Boeing 1027 that will reach LA from London in 3 hours. Still, even back then his imagined future seemed plausible.

It's been more than 20 years since I first read Inherit the Stars, and yet I still rank this book #1 of all my favourite SF books. Like other reviewers have already mentioned, how do you possibly explain a 50,000 year old corpse on the moon? Hogan spins an interesting and believable tale and the result is a page turner you can't put down. Three sequels followed this novel, and although all enjoyable reads, they can't match the freshness and originality of this hard SF classic. Read Inherit the Stars - you won't be disappointed.

I was truely amazed and pleased by the quality of writing in this set of novels. The concepts are so fresh you would think they were written with our curent knowledge of scientific advancement. The only hole in the entire series are the monetary values, it seems inflation was not correctly predicted. But other than this minor point, the novel grips you from begining to end. A great mystery unfolds for you, the reader, to speculate on and keeps you reading until the wee hours of the morning. The scientific concepts are all still completely viable today. I would recommend this entire set of three to anyone who loves SF and to anyone who enjoys solving a mystery.

"Inherit the Stars" is a wonderful science fiction novel written in the mid-1970s, during the heady early post-Apollo days. The novel is set in 2027 and begins with the intriguing development of finding the body 50,000-year-old astronaut on the Moon. As with much science fiction, the characters are pretty flimsy, but the ideas they present are fascinating and scientifically sound. Other than a lack of strong characters and character development, the book is very well written. There are two episodes which introduce incredible revelations. They are nicely spaced and creatively written: one is presented as a New York Times article, and the other is presented as a taped transmission from a scientist.

"Inherit the Stars" contains wonderful elements of the best science fiction, such as Arthur Clarke's "2001," Michael Crichton's "Sphere," and the original "Battlestar Galactica" TV series. It also contains some of the worst aspects of cheap mystery novels: "I have gathered you all here..."

Hogan has continued the story in a series of other books. I look forward to reading the rest of the novels.

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious," wrote Albert Einstein. "It is the source of all true art and science". I have a fondness for good hard science fiction. But how much hard sf is really inspired by that sense of the mysterious? Only a small percentage, I would guess.

I do not know what inspired James P. Hogan's first novel, _Inherit the Stars_ (1977). But it is certainly _about_ a scientific mystery. Human explorers discover a mummy in a spacesuit on the far side of Luna. The body is determined to be 50,000 years old. It is physically human-- not a product of a different evolution that would occur on an alien planet. But if "Charlie" came from a high-tech civilization on Earth, where are the archeological traces of that civilization? There are none. Who is Charlie? Where did he come from? How is he important to the human race?

The novel is about how scientists make hypotheses (and, being human, are sometimes dogmatic about their own ideas) and change them as new information comes in. Hogan knows that this problem cannot be solved by a single scientific genius working out of a backyard laboratory. It will have to involve hundreds of experts in different fields working in scores of laboratories. It will need administrators to co-ordinate information and ask critical questions.

Many of the details of this novel have the ring of authenticity: How scientists talk to one another, how staff meetings are conducted, the comical signs placed on lab doors, how sugar and coffee are hidden from graduate students, how masses of papers are reviewed and evaluated and sent to various teams, and how personality conflicts can lead to false trails.

Some mysteries open with a spectacular puzzle and then peter out to an anticlimactic solution. Hogan does not disappoint. His solution to the mystery of Charlie is properly impressive. Moreover, he keeps the final piece of the puzzle well concealed until the very end.

So Hogan does well scientifically. But how does he do artistically? That may seem an odd question to ask in a review of a hard science fiction novel. But there are novels-- by, for example, Arthur C. Clarke, Gregory Benford, and Charles L. Harness-- that balance scientific rigor with artistic excellence. _Inherit the Stars_ is not quite in that company. But it has a clear, serviceable style, credible characters, and an ingenious plot. In case you haven't guessed, I liked it a lot.

James P. Hogan's Inherit the Stars deserves its status as a science fiction classic. The book is set in the mid-21st century. In the first chapter, a 50,000 year-old human skeleton dressed in a spacesuit is found on the moon. The inescapable conclusion is that a technologically-advanced race of humans existed 50 millenia ago. But where did this race evolve? How did this particular human get to the moon? What happened to the rest of his kind? And why is there no archeological evidence of this civilization on earth?

As the teams of paleontologists, physicists, biologists, linguists and government officials (not to mention the media) address these questions, even more astounding archeological findings are made and more questions are raised.

This tightly-woven, compact novel is rich in analysis and deductive reasoning. The book addresses the horror, destructiveness and irrationality of war. Its themes and lessons are just as important today as in 1977 when Hogan penned this work. From hindsight, Hogan's vision of the 21st century is startlingly accurate. Among other things, he predicted the internet and the factors that brought an end to the Cold War. We haven't quite reached the age of routine space travel, but we have a couple of decades to go before we catch up to the timeframe of the novel. The work is so realistic, it is difficult to believe that it was written over 30 years ago.

Apart from Edgar Allan Poe and Umberto Eco, I'd be hard-pressed to name an author who is more adept at ratiocination than Hogan. This is a sensitive, timely and intellectually-satisfying novel. I'm looking forward to reading more of Hogan's work.

It's rare that I read a sci fi book which engages me on an intellectual level. I learnt why Caucasians have longer noses than Africans or Asians(so the nose can warm and humidify air for longer as it travels along the nasal passage) and why Eskimos are shorter and stockier than other races (to preserve body heat).

Although there is little human drama and no real personalities, the book is one intense puzzle and all the pieces fit together in one complete, detailed and very interesting jigsaw. I was initially reluctant to read this book, due to it's dated looking cover, but it kept me engrossed, and the ending was clever, though a little frustrating, in a humourous way.

I am about to start on the next book in the series. So far it looks like more of the same, and I'm going to lap it up.

Should you read this book? Yes, unless you have a very short attention span and only like to look at magazines for pictures.

It's the late 2020s. A human corpse is found. On the moon. And it's 50000 years old!

This is a 'hard' sci-fi murder-mystery novel, mostly a long investigation into how the body got there. The paper-thin characters are all scientists involved in the investigation, and serve basically as mouthpieces for various hypotheses served up by the author as he slowly introduces new clues along the way to the (rather predictably world-shattering) explanation.

What is interesting here is the meticulously scientific way in which the evidence in weighed, argued and counter-argued by the characters. It is in a kind of textbook example of how the scientific method would be put to work in this situation.

Nevertheless I found several plot devices unnecessary. For instance, there is a second, even more momentous, 'chance' discovery (on Ganymede) that is completely ex-machina, and could have been left out with no loss to the flow of the novel. Also, the solution to the main riddle became obvious (to me at least) several dozen pages before the author painstainkingly revealed it.

All in all, a good (and short) read, but not a classic.

PS: I haven't read any of the (many) sequels

This is simply a great book. There's a fascinating and scientifically plausabile plot enmeshed in a great story. If you enjoy Sci-Fi this is a must read. I bought 15 years ago and have re-read three times.